This is positively Orwellian, and people on the progressive side should not be cooperating with it. There are still 50,000 US troops in Iraq and they include brigades which are, absolutely, combat troops. Call them “advisers”, but nothing has changed, they are combat troops.
Update: Oh hey, the plan is to double the number of mercenaries in Iraq, as well.
anon2525
Oh hey, the plan is to double the number of mercenaries in Iraq, as well.
Anything that the democratic gov’t. can do, non-democratic private companies can do sotto voce for more money and a tidy, private profit.
jcapan
Come now–who wants to pay attn. to something trivial like this when there are mosques threatening us (or immigrants, or black women who may or may not favor black farmers). I mean, jesus’ nuts in my handbag, could the big money boyz be more happy about these distractions? In lieu of pulling them out of their carriages and, well, you know, in lieu of that we’re going to rinse and repeat the same divisive b-s ad infinitum.
I knew there was a reason I live abroad.
And BTW, I’m now happy the MSM played the Dean scream 3 billion times. What a freakin’ dick.
Celsius 233
When I was young I was bundled off to school where I was taught about George Washington and the cherry tree, the Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and the battleship Maine. Years later I was fed things like how the dropping of the A-bomb on Japan was a good thing, the domino effect, Korea, Viet Nam, 9/11 (evil Muslims and their religion), Iraq, Iran and now Afghanistan.
Having survived the long past of propaganda, jingoism, violations of constitutional principles, racism, and just plain bullshit (lies); just how have we arrived at this place in history? Sorry, very rhetorical question.
Having left almost 8 years ago and enjoying a view from the Cat Bird Seat, so to speak, I surprise my own self at my astonishment that this theater-of-the-absurd continues with no end in sight.
Well, no actually, the end is indeed in sight.
Lex
Orwellian is right. Then again, most Americans don’t think that we’re still occupying Germany, Japan and Korea so 50,000 troops left means the war’s over. Did we win?
And i’m sure that Mr. Obama will take the political credit for drawing down the war (assuming we all ignore the 50,000 troops and the 7,000 “contractors”), even though this is per the SOFA that Bush signed.
Lex
“…and perhaps assisting Iraq’s special operations units in carrying out counterterrorism operations. ” Being one of the reasons some US military presence needs to stay in Iraq. Any bets on there being plenty of that? Mr. Obama is all for the covert cowboy shit, so i’ll guess lots and lots.
Eureka Springs
50,000 plus troops, alway countless numbers of private contractors like the privateers who led us back to being global torturers? How many bases, how many of those twenty plus mega bases? How many troops will remain in places like Kuwait?
This all sounds much worse than the air enforced sanctions during Clinton years, which some said killed more Iraqis than Bush Sr.
Whoever allowed the headline at NYT should be fired.
CEO
Pure polling manipulation, they even had Kieth MSNBC/GE Olberman off the bench and in the game. What, Grenada wasn’t available for an invasion?
Kim Kaufman
Hillary is militarizing the State Dept. Nice.